Silent Scream (2005) User Reviews

Bad Collection of Cliché, 12 February 2008

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 9 July 2008]

A group of college students travels to the cottage of their psychology professor Barren (Peter Carey) in an isolated island as a reward of their teamwork in the research of Barren. They expect to spend the weekend with lots of sex, but a serial-killer turns their party in a nightmare.

"The Retreat" is a B-movie with a screenplay that shows a bad collection of the usual clichés of horror movies: a place in the middle of nowhere with a serial killer; cell phones do not work; the killer murders one by one, and when they discover the bodies of their friends and consequently the menace, they split to make easier to the assassin; the killer damages their cars and they become trapped in the house; when the killer is dominated, nobody shoots him in the head or hits him with an ax, or try to see his face; they just leave the guy alone with an ax close to him; the girl meets the policeman, but has the most unreasonable attitude; there are many beautiful breasts; the twist in the end is ridiculous. There are more flaws or clichés, but I believe these examples are enough to give a big picture of this film. In addition, there are many stupid lines that seem to be written by a moron or a fan of "American Pie" franchise. The result is the fair IMDb Rating of 2.8 with 228 votes. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Grito de Pânico" ("Scream of Panic")

"This sucks on so many levels."

[FilmFatale · 3/10 · 3 October 2008]

The above line of dialogue pretty much sums up this low budget slasher film. Although the acting is bad and the plot twist is inane, I did find a few positive things in this dreck. First off, we get a twist from the typical summer camp slasher, as this is a winter camp slasher. A group of students has been helping their professor with a semester long research project. To thank them, the prof sends them to a weekend retreat at his remote Michigan cabin. Which leads to the second positive: a LOT of people get killed, and it starts pretty quickly. There's even some decent gore, considering the micro budget. But on the bad side, almost all of the murders are shown twice. What the heck?? This film is twenty minutes too long anyway, so it's all just padding. In a nod to the classic 80s slashers, we do get boobs and sex, so combined with the gore and high body count, this wasn't a terrible way to spend an evening. Still, it's mostly inane and recommended for fans of slashers and overdone Michigan accents.

OK, not great but there is worse out there

[Horrorible_Horror_Films · 4/10 · 6 February 2007]

For a B-Horror movie, this is about the best you can hope for. Not a terrible film, and fans of the genre will enjoy it. Especially since some annoying people get killed near the first part of the movie. Decently made movie, good direction, DP and script - uh, the 'acting' was sub-par for sure for most of the actors, but some were better than others. There isn't too much more to say - if you love slasher films you could do much worse than this one, but if you don't like this type of movie you'll probably hate it. The ending, like most of the film, can't help but being a little cliché but for what it is its done better than most low budget horror movies. I hated the female lead, I thought she sucked, but then again I seem to hate most female leads in modern low budget horror unless its Tifanny Shepis. So go see "Silent Scream" or the "Retreat" depending what title you see it under, just know what your expecting - definitely not the worst movie out there, but not really better than mediocre.

Irredeemably awful

[Coventry · 1/10 · 20 May 2007]

This movie is so bad I don't even want to joke about it. The only Raison d'être of this review is warn people to stay far away from "Silent Scream". For a friend of mine it's already too late, as he blind-bought this rubbish on DVD, but you can still be saved if you just manage resist the promising-looking cover image and the pictures of ravishing girls on the back of the box. "Silent Scream" is as bad as low-budget teen horror gets, with a plot that gets more retarded with each minute that passes, the dumbest characters in history (even though they're supposed to be psychology students) and dialogs so painful they make your ears cringe. One could state that the body count is remarkably higher than usually the case in slasher films, but even then, the murder sequences are totally uninspired and the complete lack of continuity and/or a plausible plot is simply intolerable. In order to thank the entire class for helping with his dreams-manipulation research, a weak-acting psychology professor rewards them with the keys of his vacation resort on a snowy Michigan island. The first part of the group arrives and have some mindless sex and too much tequila before getting slaughtered the exact same night by an individual wearing a hooded winter jacket. The second group arrives the day after and teams up with the last two survivors of group one. Unfortunately they offer a little more resistance to the killer and even come close to escaping the island. Then comes the hopelessly predictable and imbecile twist-in-the-end. The script is just a non-stop series of stupidities, dire clichés and insufferable stereotypes. The empty-headed characters say the dumbest things at the most inappropriate moments and, as if that wasn't bad enough already, they constantly repeat themselves as well. Especially the male lead Mark is a pitiable character, as he keeps nagging to his ex-girlfriend that he still loves her even though they're being chased by a maniac holding an axe. All the girls are great eye-candy (except for Melissa Schuman who tries to act too much like Sarah Michelle Gellar) and some of them even show their ravishing flesh, but they're just too stupid and obnoxious to be likable characters. "Silent Scream" is boring, irritating as hell, ugly to look at, poorly directed and completely unoriginal. Next time you pick it up in a shop or videostore, just put it back.

Very mediocre low-budget slasher flick.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 4/10 · 2 October 2006]

A group of college kids volunteers for a weekend retreat to help their psychology professor with his research and soon find themselves fighting for their lives against a mysterious hooded killer who's picking them off one by one."The Retreat",which is also known under the title "Silent Scream" is an unoriginal slasher flick shot in the woods of Michigan.The acting is horrible,the action moves at snail's pace and the direction is bad.However there is a decent amount of gore and some of the killings are suitably gruesome.The so-called plot twist at the end is utterly stupid.Give it a look,only if you are a rabid fan of slasher films-just remember that there are far better hack 'em up flicks out there.My very generous rating:4 out of 10.

Average teen slasher.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 31 May 2008]

The Retreat starts as scientist & school teacher Dr. Barren (Peter Carey) gives a group of his pupil's who have been helping him with his experiments unlimited use of his isolated log cabin situated on a snow covered island in Michigan. Dr. Barren gives a set of keys to Pete (David Craze) & Nicole (Melissa Schuman) who intend to take the other's up there, Pete gets there first with his lot & they are quickly killed off one-by-one by a duffel coated killer. Then Nicole gets there the following day with her group & it's not long before they discover what happened to their friends & are fighting for their lives...

Written & directed by Matt Cantu & Lance Kawas & more commonly known under the title Silent Scream one has to say that The Retreat is average at best & a generic boring piece of crap at worst. I have seen loads of these low budget teen slashers & I can write reviews for them in my sleep, I can pretty much Copy & Paste one teen slasher comment & use it on another with a few edits. I mean there's not much to analyze or comment on in this sort of film, there's the isolated location, there's the body & nudity count, there's the question of if the kills are any good, there's the question of whether the killer is of your mysterious human variety as seen in Scream (1996) or your undead one-liner zombie killer like Freddy or Jason & then there's the most pertinent question of the lot are the reasons for everyone to keep splitting up plausible? Well lets address those issues, the location is alright but I never felt that it was that isolated, the body count is surprisingly high with a lot of murders in the first twenty odd minutes before Nicole & her group gets there & the film almost starts again with a new fresh batch of teen victims, the nudity count is reasonable with a bit of lesbianism & some bare female breasts on show, the kills are pretty poor & rather unimaginative & there's a distinct lack of blood or gore, the killer is definitely of the human variety although their identity is very obvious & the reasons for everyone to keep splitting up are moronic & annoying. If that wasn't enough there's a terrible twist within a twist ending that makes no sense whatsoever & leaves you feeling cheated. The Retreat isn't the worst example of the genre, at least it moves along at a reasonable pace & has a decent body-count, but it's hardly a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination & that ending really does suck.

This one looks alright actually, it's quite well made with decent cinematography. I would have preferred some proper gore though, the goriest it gets is when someone is decapitated with some wire, there's a severed leg, there's a bloodless axe in the had, a bloodless axe in the back of the neck, an off screen face burning, someones neck is broken, someone is suffocated, someones eyeball is poked out in a scene that lacks any logic, someone is drowned & not a lot else worth mentioning. I wouldn't say there's anything scary here, the kills don't really have any build up & are over pretty quickly.

Technically the film is fine, it appears to have decent production values but the budget obviously didn't stretch to proper special effects & the script sucked which is a fundamental problem no matter how well made a film is. Apparently filmed in Harbor Springs in Michigan. The acting is forgettable, no-one is totally awful but on the other hand no-one is particularly good.

The Retreat is a pretty average & generic teens slasher for most of it's duration with a duffel coated killer who is a complete rip-off of the killer from Urban Legend (1998) & a terrible tacked on double barrelled twist ending which makes zero sense.

Rubbish. Avoid.

[neil-476 · 24 October 2011]

Group of teenagers. Cottage in the woods. Mad axeman. Last one standing. Ludicrously stupid behaviour. Preposterous twist ending.

Yes, it's one of those. I think the thing which impressed me most - or depressed me most, if you will - was the degree of stupidity exhibited by the teenagers. I am sure it is possible to do one of these films and have the group not split up so that they can be picked off one by one, or not go down into the cellar in the dark, or kill the killer when he is unconscious, or at least take his axe with you.

Dismal stuff, with the minimum mark allowed, plus a bonus point for being filmed in real woods with real snow (we don't get much snow in my neck of the woods, and I'm easily impressed).

SHOCKING!!! worst movie EVER ***poss spoiler****

[carra-oneil · 1/10 · 21 November 2006]

I don't know what was worse - the cheesy elevator/porn/supermarket music that almost made my ears bleed. The acting which was that of some dodgy attempt at a channel 5 soft porn or Horror channel rubbish!! The death scenes, hmm without spoiling the movie (not that thats possible)were at best laughable - the killer kept the messy scenes for outside the cabin yet managed not to spill a drop inside, except on tiles areas for easy cleaning ;o) obviously owned the place lol. I mean twisting a girls head off - not on this planet lol!! not to mention that goddam AWFUL attempt at a twist?!?!?!? manipulated dreams? AYE RITE!! Watch this movie, I dare you.... but don't say you weren't warned!!

So bad!

[cdc0402 · 1/10 · 4 May 2007]

I got this from Netflix last night and it's easily the WORST movie I've seen in quite sometime-if not ever. It was so bad it irritated me and I turned it off. I couldn't get it back in the mail quick enough. It blows ass. It was so convoluted. The continuity made no sense. The acting is atrocious. The dialogue is banal. The direction is horrible. The characters are idiots. It's embarrassing. I suppose if I'd watched to the end there would have been a explanation and a pay-off (doubt it) but I was decided I'd rather paint my bathroom and watch the paint dry for more entertainment. Lionsgate usually distributes some pretty good films but this one is just terrible.

Awful awful awful

[Reesy-192-687595 · 1/10 · 7 June 2012]

This film makes Dr Giggles (previously my worst ever film) look good. The acting is poor, the storyline is poor, the Gore is poor! I thought that the spoof zombie film shown at the end of Super 8 was better. I said after 2 minutes - it's the teacher - granted there is a bit of a twist at the end which I hadn't counted on but that doesn't gain any points. If you want to see Kenny from south park throw a precision axe while the victim stands perfectly still - probably from stage fright because they've forgotten their lines then this could be the film for you. Luckily I watched this film on the horror channel on sky so had the adverts to look forward to for entertainment.

Can't hear you

[kosmasp · 3/10 · 4 November 2010]

Although most here, would rather it be: can't see you. But we saw it (don't know about you dear reader, maybe you wanna check on in, and decide if you want to watch it). Let me tell you though that this tries very hard to be clever. You would guess so, with the characters studying Psychology and all.

And the fact that they just behave like your average teenager (from a horror film), just goes to show you how bad ... our school system in general is! Seriously though: Of course there is more happening than usual (remember: it tries so hard!), but this only makes the whole thing more ridiculous.

If you sit through the end, you have watched a few good scenes. But you will also see something that is completely wrong ...

Routine but decent slasher effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 4 September 2012]

Agreeing to accompany a professor to a cabin in the woods for a psychology experiment, a group of students find themselves stranded with a savage killer knocking them off one-by-one, forcing them to try to get away alive.

Pretty much standard issue slasher fare here, not that it's a bad thing by any stretch and actually has some solid points to it. The atmosphere, with it's wintery woodland setting out in the middle of nowhere, the growing realization of what's going on and the different traps create a pretty nice set-up here, and then the fact that the killer tends to show up whenever it's necessary to off someone makes for some really enjoyable moments as well. The pace is great and the kills are outstanding, so it's got a lot going for it even though there's a few flaws. The final twist reveal is a total cheat and really works against the film, the characters' actions are plain idiotic, and the cheapness does shine through on occasion. Otherwise, this one's pretty fun.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity and a sex scene.

solid B film

[wrlang · 7/10 · 5 December 2006]

Silent Scream is about a group of college kids that get caught up in their professor's experiment. The class discusses psychological disorders and reality as the professor takes them on a real trip down the shared subconscious. A touch of Jason and some other slasher films along with screaming coeds. While some of the plot is more unique than most of today's horror films, it is a little humorous in some places where it shouldn't be. Most of the scenes are easy to tell what's going to happen and I think it is meant to be that way so you're surprise by the double twist at the end. Some cheap film effects work to a small degree, but they are overdone. The DVD cover was what caught my eye, so there's a lot to be said for presentation. All in all, not too bad a film. A solid B in my book.

Not the best.

[nickilancaster · 2/10 · 31 August 2007]

Me and my boyfriend rented this "horror" film (thank goodness we didn't actually buy it and waste more money.) Well to start off the acting was terrible and so was the actual story and you realise how pointless it all was at the end when you realise that it was all a dream the students were having. How dumb an idea is that, its like they didn't know how to end it and all they came up with was this crap ending, it was all a bad dream, how lame. You could tell it was a low budget film with the bad direction and script. All the characters were so annoying and i wish they had actually died, they didn't have a brain between them. The "killings" were terrible too, and i know that the killer takes a while to die like in most films but how many times does he need to get shot and hurt to actually die? Don't waste your time or money!

You must be kidding!

[iptlfp-imdb · 1/10 · 31 July 2010]

This must be the worst movie of "horror" that I have seen in my life! Beginning with the argument is so weak, so poor... Looks more like a porn movie or some "Scary Movie 5". First of all, it provides for a poor film, low budget, where they chose a couple of girls, men, and a coat of the most ridiculous! Believe me, no part of the movie is scary, not one. The only thing that makes this film is laugh. If you want to laugh and have a good time, with humorous moments and laugh heartily, then you can watch this movie. But if you are looking scared, terrified... no way, this is not an option. The only thing worthwhile is Cheryl Campbell (Marla). Another thing is that everyone is "Karate Kids", all know martial arts, or something. The movements of "The Figure" (what a name so funny!) are so super-enactments, so false, so little credible. The picture, director and production team should be the most illiterate of the entire film industry should focus on something else, because for this are not made. Oh well, I lost 90 minutes of my life, the good thing about all this is that I was with my girlfriend, and we laugh a lot! We did spend at least a joyous night! hehehe.

best acting in the whole film comes from any and all the inanimate objects!

[mackroman · 1/10 · 17 April 2007]

Plot: college kids go to a secluded cabin and suffer lots and lots of death, twist at the end so the film can claim some intellect.

Aims of the film: to be a typical "slasher" flick, with everyday kids getting horribly stabbed, beheaded, split in two, slapped and generally treated badly. twist at the end and leave it wide open for a sequel (please no!!!!) Actuality: terrible acting matches the apparently drunken camera-work and is only outshone idiocy of any member of production/post production that didn't realise this and get their name far far away form this thing! the twist is unexpected but also never hinted and therefore impossible to guess! the killer obvious to anyone familiar with the genre, and on the subject of genre i (and 3 friends a saw it with) believe reclassification to "comedy" or, if not "a big hole with no escape" is in order. TP

Quite enjoyable

[kbtoys100 · 8/10 · 9 February 2021]

Reading other reviews, it seems this movie gets a bad rap, but in terms of late 2000s low budget slashers it's quite enjoyable.

Positives: Tons of kills, some rather unique, and a fast pace.

Negatives: paper thin storyline

Overall if you enjoy other post-scream non-studio slashers I recommend Silent Scream.

watchable, solid B film

[mr-rob-c · 6/10 · 26 January 2016]

hello there,

don't understand the bad critics, where i admit, the music choice is terrible, and yes it is a low budget film, BUT the idea, the end, and every 5 minutes some die....thats what means slasher ,-) don't get me wrong, it is not one of the best horror/slasher movies, but there are so much bader films and acotrs and they get better rating. this here don't deserve so low rating, but look and take your own opinion, i liked it and especially the end.

try it out

greeting from cologne, Germany

VERY Fast Paced Thriller

[Horror_Fan01 · 7/10 · 1 December 2007]

This movie, i ordered from Amazon. I received it a few days ago and watched it. It was really good, and really fast paced. I counted and 4 characters die in about 45 seconds. So there is not really that much character development, except for Chole, Nicole, and Mark. Other than that, it was a really great thriller. Love how the killer from Urban Legends was in this!! Chloe was my favorite in this! She was so tough and funny. When she was trying to beat up the killer - i was laughing so hard! Also when they turn on the 80's electro music, was pretty funny! One thing that really made me mad, is the ending, i knew who the killer was, as soon as the movie started, it's really obvious. There are 2 twists, 1 is VERY predictable and number 2 might just confuse you. Anyways great movie, lot of gore, fast paced....definitely worth a look.

The frozen slasher

[Elvis-Del-Valle · 7/10 · 18 September 2023]

Despite being a low-budget film, Silent Scream is a promising slasher done the old-fashioned way. It's the same story of young people being targeted by a killer, but this time taken to the frozen area of Michigan. The winter setting serves a lot to give this film a better update so that it is not such a generic slasher. The death scenes are well developed despite the budget and it has a simple script offering a quite entertaining slasher in the style of the 80s or 90s. Everything is going well in this movie until the ending makes you say "what the heck just happened ?", leaving a lot of questions. Silent Scream is a B-movie that manages to be an acceptable, decent and entertaining slasher. My final rating for this movie is a 7/10.